"Pitchy Patch" Puppet Art Lesson

Lesson Plan Submitted by: Mary C. Tevlin
Elementary art teacher at Rose Acres School
Grades: 1st - 3rd

Procedure:

This activity is part of a Caribbean Unit. A pattern of a dancing person should be pre-made so children can trace the pattern. After cutting the pattern out, take magazines and cut strips. Then fringe the edges of the strips. Glue magazines strips from the bottom up. Use Construction Paper to decorate each face. After the Pitchy Patch doll is completed, then add a dowel rod to the back. You now have a Pitchy Patch Puppet!

Note from Ken: You can encourage creativity by having students design their own puppets rather than trace a pattern. Other options include having a student model for each table a creative pose. It is unclear from the lesson how large the puppets will be. You may use tongue depressors instead of dowel rods if the puppets are small like the puppets in the image at left. I would think that fringed magazine strips around the entire body of a puppet might be too much. Would it be better to just have the face with the fringed strips around it? This way they could serve as a mask- but then it wouldn't be a puppet now, would it?

When you're done, why not put on a puppet show? Each table could come up with a play. The puppet stage could be made from a cardboard box. The open end of the box would be the opening to the stage and a hole could be cut out in the bottom for the puppets to come up from below. Fabric could be used as the stage curtain.

Mrs. Tevlin (above) is a retired art teacher of 32 years. She and her husband have created a company called Nature Fibers, a paper making product.

Materials:

• Rectangular facial tissue boxes

• Watercolor Paint

• Tempera Paint

• Paint Brushes

Resources

DVD

Fun with Puppets - Former Jim Henson puppeteer John Kennedy teaches how to make your very own Sock Puppy, Banana Buddy, and Butterfly puppets, and how to be an expert puppeteer. Also watch fun skits with the characters you've just created.

Books

Paper Puppet Palooza: Techniques for Making Moveable Art Figures and Paper Dolls - This book teaches readers how to make a wide variety of moveable paper puppets.

Puppet Planet: The Most Amazing Puppet-Making Book in the Universe - This book shares twelve puppet projects, each using a variety of techniques. Features "action panels" so readers can see how each puppet comes to life. Includes staging ideas to play up each project’s uniqueness.